Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org – all talk and no substance

Just a few days before the Spring Meetings started, the IMF’s new World Economic Outlook revised the Eurozone’s growth projections downward once again, and with them global growth projections. This implicitly acknowledges that the IMF’s policy advice back in 2010 – to move from fiscal expansion to austerity policies – was premature and inadequate. The Eurozone economy double-dipped rather than recovering, with negative spill-over effects for Europe’s trading Market activities
trading Buying and selling of financial instruments such as shares, futures, derivatives, options, and warrants conducted in the hope of making a short-term profit. partners, including in the South.

Statements by IMF’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde and IMF staff at the Spring Meetings encouraged those countries that can afford it to move back to less contractionary fiscal policies in order to stimulate growth. However, the diplomatic language in the International Monetary and Financial Committee’s (IMFC) Communiqué that “surplus economies must boost domestic sources of growth” indicates that they have limited willingness to comply. Furthermore, the IMF has no means besides rhetoric to pressure surplus economies that are not dependent on its loans. For the crisis countries, austerity remains the medicine of choice: “deficit countries must continue to raise national saving”, which implies a further reduction in consumption and investment.

The agreement on governance reforms contains no news. The implementation of the already agreed quota reform is stuck as it awaits approval by the US Congress. The upcoming quota formula reform is supposed to strengthen the ‘dynamic economies’, which means that the IMF will continue to be dominated by rich countries and marginalise the poor. Only the composition of these country groupings might change.

On a more positive note, the current anti-tax evasion wave has also reached the international finance institutions (IFIs) as the IMFC acknowledges that “fighting tax evasion is critical”. However, the policy advice that follows is limited to “promote transparency in the tax, anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism areas”. This is insufficient, as the IMFC is still ignoring the need for progressive taxation or shutting down tax havens in order to fight poverty and drive equitable growth. The temporary extension of the zero interest Interest An amount paid in remuneration of an investment or received by a lender. Interest is calculated on the amount of the capital invested or borrowed, the duration of the operation and the rate that has been set. rate for the IMF’s facilities for low-income countries that has been ‘noted’ by the IMFC will not fill the gap.

World Bank World Bank
WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries.

It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which :

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ;

2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ;

3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries.

As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates.

– full of empty promises

This situation was obviously a challenging starting point for the World Bank section of the Spring Meetings, presented under a huge ‘end poverty’ logo hanging from their headquarter’s façade. The World Bank launched its new development goals – partly pre-empting the outcome of the UN’s ongoing post-2015 process (i.e. the new commitment to reduce the share Share A unit of ownership interest in a corporation or financial asset, representing one part of the total capital stock. Its owner (a shareholder) is entitled to receive an equal distribution of any profits distributed (a dividend) and to attend shareholder meetings. of people living in absolute poverty to 3% of the world’s population by 2030, and to increase the incomes of the bottom 40%).

However, there is no reference to reducing relative poverty, which is as culpable in promoting human misery as absolute poverty. Without support for redistributive mechanisms such as progressive taxation systems, or support for public financial management to implement such taxation schemes, there is no guarantee that this approach will address issues of inequality. Civil society groups in Washington DC argued that the new goals would benefit greatly from a clear understanding and “concrete action” on shared prosperity and reducing inequality.

The Communiqué of the World Bank development committee addressed the challenges presented by macro-economic instability, unemployment and food price volatility. Furthermore, it lauded World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s vision paper for the future of the organisation and the focus on shared prosperity. Unfortunately, however, there were no clear solutions given to the challenges – and the principles put forward by the vision paper on shared prosperity are mired in compromise and ambiguity.

On unemployment, the World Bank lionised the private sector’s contribution to growth and job creation. The Communiqué argued that “with a proper enabling environment, adequate infrastructure, and policies that promote competition, entrepreneurship and job creation, the private sector can support shared prosperity and offer real opportunities to all citizens”. It called upon its private sector arms, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), to increase their support to the private sector to achieve the objectives of inclusive growth. There was no clarity on whether funding would be scaled up to support an appropriate regulatory framework to protect workers’ rights, or to ensure that financing goes to appropriate private sector partners that can deliver on development objectives.

There seems to be a suggestion that all private actors are equal, paying no regard to the current period of jobless growth or the complicit role that many in the private sector have played in tax avoidance, effectively reducing the ability of developing countries to collect revenues that could finance many of their social and infrastructure needs. Furthermore, a recent audit of the IFC’s use of financial intermediaries by their ombudsmen determined that many of these private sector investments yielded questionable development results.

There is also no recognition that, without public guidance and oversight, economic growth can be a destroyer of jobs, as technology transfer and scaling up production reduces the need for unskilled labour. This is particularly worrying considering the call for expanding investment in infrastructure and agricultural sectors during a period of declining support for the public resources needed to manage such complex activities and mitigate their negative effects. The role and support of domestic policy other than addressing governance issues and creating an ‘enabling environment’ for business is unclear.